Emotional Intelligence @ Workplace

Emotional Intelligence is the ability to spot and understand information related to the emotions of self as well as others, think (process the information), and act appropriately for the best possible outcome.

- Suresh Datla

By the time Kumar reached office, he was late by 30 minutes, and, Ezaz was waiting for him. Kumar was heading HR in the organisation, while Ezaz was the head of Finance. "One more of my team members has resigned this morning. How am I going to handle the audit now? You could not even fill the vacancy created by the exit of David four months ago." Ezaz quipped in anger as he entered Kumar's cabin which was adjacent to his. "That's for you to figure out. That's precisely what you are being paid for" retorted Kumar, still trying to switch his laptop on.

Such a response enraged Ezaz and he yelled, "It is such arrogance of the HR department which is the root cause of most of the problems here…I am not going to tolerate this anymore." This ensued into a bitter argument between Ezaz and Kumar, including blaming each other's subordinates, and, it was audible to their team members sitting outside the cabins. While they reconciled later and took damage control measures, this incident disturbed the harmony between the two teams.

Little did Ezaz know that Kumar had narrowly escaped an accident while driving to the office. Kumar's nerves had not yet settled by the time he reached office. Kumar, being hazzled, in spite of knowing fully well regarding an upcoming audit, could not understand Ezaz's worries and anger. Handling the audit with one team member completely gone and another half-gone was an uphill task.

If one of them had at least been cognisant of the rising impulses and handled the discussion without anger, or,